Lola James Harper’s Rami Mekdachi on the magic of fragrance

Published on 16 May 2017

If you’ve ever been unexpectedly hit with a deeply buried childhood memory upon a quick sniff of, say, a certain flower, or an item of your grandmother’s wardrobe then it should come as no surprise to learn that our sense of smell is the sense that is most closely linked to memory. Scent is visceral, powerful and transportive – and it’s these reactions that Rami Mekdachi, the founder of fragrance and lifestyle brand Lola James Harper relies on when concocting his his emotive scents.

Creative since his childhood, Rami was first a perfume developer for L’Oreal in Paris, before going freelance and working for perfume houses including Chloe, Eau de Colette, Costes parfum and Nelly Rodi among others. But in 2013 he channelled his creative vision into Lola James Harper, a brand that combines his love for fragrance, music and photography.

Why was it important to establish the brand as a lifestyle brand, as much as just a fragrance brand?

The central element of the brand is the perfume but we added other things to support it. The way that the projects happened was all different too – making music, taking pictures and creating fragrances is something that I’ve done for 25 years. I started creating perfume from about the age of 25, and it is so sensory that it really does have links to music and photography anyway. I fell in love with the field because I felt that it was even more profound than music – it wasn’t intellectual, it was visceral. In perfume you think you know exactly what is in a fragrance but you never completely do. I realised then how poetic it is. I then wanted to create my own brand, one that was more niche and allowed me to be more personal but I kept making music and taking pictures too because that is part of my life.

I’m always gathering smells and images that I love from around the world too. And four years ago I realised that I could create something that was a little part of all of them – and that was Lola James Harper. With the fragrance we now have a coffee and tea line, we work with hotels and are even about to release a film. On a trip to London we catch up with the multi-faceted pioneer to talk working from memory, balance and why there is always beauty in the everyday.

"When you look for an answer, you always find it somewhere else."

Do you think that being so versatile makes you a better artist and designer?

The mind doesn’t work in a linear way, this is what I’ve learned from 20 years of working. When you look for an answer, you always find it somewhere else. It’s when I’m mixing a song that I find the name of a perfume, it’s when I’m working with a perfumer that I see how a picture collection would work. When you focus too much you don’t see anything anymore. I also never do anything for more than one hour, because at first everything goes fast and after a while that momentum decreases and you get stuck. The more you open yourself up, the more magic your mind becomes. The most important thing is to grow as a human being.

How do you feel that social media and technology have influenced your creative process?

I haven’t strategised anything really, everything has been organic. I know when to stop too, a project can last for a month, a year or ten years and then that’s enough. I want Lola James Harper to bring people back to their senses, it has to be natural and that is what I try to do. And how has technology influenced it? Well, I always have my Powebook and my camera on me. It’s amazing how powerful we are today with these tools – we have the world in the palm of our hand. But the more that we go in the direction of technology and social media the more we have to balance that, to continue being human beings and connecting with nature. We have to be more and more poetic, we have to connect with our senses.

Does the creative industry need more balance now that social media is so integral?

I believe that the mind loves diversity and jumping from one thing to another. Everything can co-exist, so both sides have to go as far as they can at the same time to find balance. We shouldn’t have to choose though, the power comes from doing both. Because we are so much more informed now I think that makes us capable of doing so much more.

"The more that you’re classic and simple, the more that you’re timeless."

For your fragrance range you’ve gone for a classic style in terms of design – why?

When you work on a project the information you put out informs people’s perception of you. The perfumes are super classic because, contrary to fashion, a perfume grows with age. And the more that you’re classic and simple, the more that you’re timeless. That is more powerful. Other parts of the brand, like the film or my photography can document what is happening now, and what people want now, but the design of the perfume has to last for decades, so I wanted to go back to simplicity, something that I can keep for years and years.

The scents that you create come from memory – why is that always your starting point?

The memories are real for me, that makes it more personal and more poetic. But also the memories aren’t super precise, they are open for interpretation similarly to my photographs on the wall of our spaces – I never say what year they are, or where they were taken because I want people to dream about them themselves. It’s the same for my inspiration, it has to come from somewhere but I want it to be true and not a marketing strategy. For example – the scent “The Billiard-Room of Jean-Jacques” is my friend and my lawyer and he helped me a lot at the beginning of the brand. When the fragrance launched it was the top seller in Colette for two months and it was like a symbol – it shouldn’t have meant much to anyone but it did, it worked.

Do you have any memory of scents from early in your life that you think got you interested in fragrance in the first place?

I was born in Beirut and there are rich scents everywhere. Music and photography isn’t linked to my roots but I feel that scent is, it was natural. I learnt that my grandfather had a soap factory too, which no one really talked about after the war, so I feel that scent has always been linked to who I am.

"Beauty is in a word, in a shape, in an action, in a smell, in a moment. Beauty is the only thing that let’s you get through ugly moments."

Almost everything in fact, this is my problem! Because I have been working on my nose for so long I am sensitive to everything. The simple smell of bread is probably the most transportive, though. When I get up really early in Paris and go out at 6am I smell the bread from the bakers in the street and I feel like a child back in the countryside in Beirut. But that it what I love about smell, you can close your eyes, breathe in a scent and you are instantly somewhere else – it’s almost indescribable. It is so visceral and linked to memory, it’s almost magical.

How should fragrance make you feel?

I believe that fragrance is linked to something about you, and the first day that you wore it – whether you realise it or not – is linked to you, it’s reminds you of something, whether it’s someone you love, a holiday or even a great advertising campaign. Day by day you fill that smell with your own life and interpret it your own way. If you wear it and have a great life, it will be positive for you, but if things go badly you won’t want to wear that smell for long! But that’s the point, it has to be linked to something.

How is the brand going to evolve from here?

Well the movie is going to launch a new chapter for us. It’s called With, and you’re in the car with us, listening to music with us – it’s not fast or a super story, it’s more natural than that. And I think that’s the next step for us, I want to do more movies to explain who we are and to grow. It gives people another way to link to us. We’re also planning on launching hotels which is huge for us. There will be a music school in the basement, a basketball court, a perfume gallery – it will really be a place where you live with all parts of the brand.

How do you define beauty, what is it to you?

Beauty is what makes you feel good. It’s not one thing, there is not one beauty. Beauty is a moment in which you feel happy and at ease. Beauty is in a word, in a shape, in an action, in a smell, in a moment. Beauty is the only thing that let’s you get through ugly moments.